Towel cabinet and mechanism therefor



ylarch 12, 1940. 1 c. GRUNWALD 2,193,589

TOWEL CABINET AND MECHANISM THEREFOR Filed Oct. 7, 1956 3 Sheets-Sfieet1 J 1' [nvenL of' z- ALBEeTCZGEwvMLD ATmKNgY;

March 12, 1940. AC. GRUNWALD TOWEL CABINET AND MECHANISM THEREFOR FiledOct. 7, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 12,. 1940. A. cfeRuNwALD 2,193,539

TOWEL CABINET AND MECHANISM THEREFOR I 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct, 71936 t/6762 07 JLBEET GEUNWALD ATTaz Patented Mar. 12, 1940 ii STATESTower; CABINET AND MECHANISM 'rnnanron Albert C. Grunwald, River Forest,Ill., asslgnor to Steiner Sales Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, a

corporation of Utah Application October 7, 1936, Serial No. 104,480

30 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in-sheet or web dispensingapparatus and provides devices which are applicable for handling eitherwashable fabric material or paper or equivalent material. The inventionhas been herein embodied in a mechanism for handling paper, the supplyvof which is in the form of a roll, from whichlengths of sheets are fedand then torn off by hand.

Qbiects are: to improve the automatic feedin means; to simplify theconstruction, and make it more compact; to dispose the time-stop andautomatic feeding mechanisms at one side only of the cabinet; and tobalance the mechanism and make it more positive in action.

Features of the invention also include, the specific scheme whereby thetime-stop mechanism directly controls tripping tov initiate feed-outaction; the arrangement of throat-forming closure members hinged on acommon pivot; the use of 30 of intermeshed gears one of which is mountedon the measuring roll for controlling the setting of said rack bar; theoperation of the back-off mechanism by the shaft of a gear which in turncarries means for setting the rack bar; and all details of constructionshown, along with the broader ideas of means inherent in the disclosure.

Objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear in thedescription of the drawings forming a part of this disclosure and insaid drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section taken approximately on line ll of Figure3 looking in the direction of the arrow, and showing the time stopmechanism and related parts positioned as at the beginning of timing andbefore tear-off Figure 2 is a. viewsimllar to Figure 1 with the partspositioned as immediately after feed-out action, at the end of thetiming period;

Figure 3 15 a; plan section taken approximately on line 3-4 of Figure 1;and

Figure 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Although my invention is herein embodied in a paper dispensingapparatus, there is no inten- 55 tion to entirely limit this inventionto the dispensing of paper, since it may be applied in dispensingtextile fabrics.-

In the drawings, numeral I generally indicates a casing upon the bottom2 on which rests a. supply roll of paper toweling indicated at 3. 5 Thecasing has a closure member forming the front 4 of the cabinet andmerging into a part 5 which forms the top of the cabinet. The-part 4 ishinged at its bottom to the bottom 2 of the v cabinet by means of a,pintle 6 held in eyes'suit- 1o ably formed from the metal of the doorand from the metal of the bottom 2. The top portion 50f the closure,overlappingly engages a bead 1 of the rear wall 8 of the cabinet and asuitable lock 9 is provided having a tumbler which engages in 15 a slot(not shown) of the bead I.

The-lower part of the front portion 4 of the closure is cut out toprovide a bottom-delivery 1 opening Ill for the paper, and arrangedadjacent The elements 4 and I5 form a downwardly leading guide throat20. The lower part of the platev i5 curves outwardly and downwardly asindi- 30 cated at 2| and is concave on its front side. The element l5forms a closure for what may be considered the toweling supply chamber,and the back of this chamber is provided with a diagonal stop or wall 22which provides slight friction and 35 prevents the roll moving againstthe back 8 of the cabinet. v

' Arranged above and inwardly from the top of the swing-plate IS, withits forward part close. to and overlying the plate, is a measuring roll25 having a shaft 26 or equivalent means suitably journaling it inandbetween the plates l'8l9. The plates extendfrom thefront to the back ofthe cabinet and are secured by any suitable means preferably to the rearwall. The roll 25 has a suitable friction surface, and cooperatingwiththis surface or with the paper lying thereagainst is a pinch roll21. The pinch roll has a shaft or trunnions 28 which project at oppositeends through slots 2! of the plates I8 and i9, and so suitable springmeans 30 is provided to act on the shafts 28 to yieldably move the roll21 toward the roll 25; A curved guard plate 3| partly surrounds and isspaced from the measuring roll as shown to form a guide for directingthe paper around 5,

the roll, and downwardly into the throat 20 formed by elements 4 and.I5.

The paper 32 is brought upwardly from the paper supply roll 3, thenbetween the measuring and pinch rolls 25, 21, then upwardly over themeasuring roll, thence downwardly into the throat 20 formed by plates 4and IS. The paper assumes the position best shown in Figures 1 and 2,and it will be seen that it is positioned to be drawn against the teeth12, and torn by an upward movement from side to side.

An important feature of. this invention is a time-stop mechanism havingassociated therewith and controlled thereby, means acting toautomatically feed out the paper or other material at the end of a timedperiod. In this case, this feed-out follows release of the time stopmechanism, to permit further withdrawal of the paper by hand. Thus, ifthe user has pulled out and torn off a piece of paper there is no way toget another piece or even to take hold of another piece until after apredetermined period of time, following which the stop is released andtoweling or other material is automatically dispensed to visible andaccessible position. It will be understood that this invention is notnecessarily limited to dispensing toweling, nor to dispensing papertoweling. In this case there is no crank feed necessary, although ashereinafter set forth manual feeding means may be provided if desiredfor emergency.

Referring first to Figure 1 which shows the stop mechanism in stopposition: attached to the shaft 26 of the measuring roll 25, is a spurgear 35 meshing with a second spur gear 36 on shaft 3'! journaled inplate I8. Also on the shaft 26 immediately adjacent the gear 35 is aratchet wheel 39, the teeth of which engage with. the correspondingteeth of a ratchet bar 40', suitably guided in part by means generallyindicated at 4|. A spring 42 is connected by one end to the top of therack bar 40 and by the other end to bracket 43 of the plate l8. When theuser pulls on the paper, the rack bar 40 is moved downwardly against theaction of the spring 42 by means of a roller 45 on the gear 36 actingagainst a spring arm 46, the outer free end of which cooperates with aslot 41 of the rack bar 40 and to move the rack bar downwardly againstthe action of the spring 42, to its lowermost position. The ratchet bar40 has one face sliding against the gears and an opposite face slidingagainst the inner face of the guide 4|. Thus the rack is kept inalinement so its teeth always properly-cooperate with the teeth of theratchet wheel 39. Any suitable guide means can be used.

Afterthe rack bar has reached its lowermost position, the spring arm 46and the roller 45 have assumed the position shown in dot-anddash linesin Figure 1. The rack or ratchet bar has a shoulder 48 cooperative withshoulder 49 of latch 50 suitably pivoted at to the plate IS. A spring 52urges the latch 50 against a stop 53, to latching position, from whichposition it is pushed by the curved lower end 55 of the rack bar 40, asthis bar travels downwardly toward its final position of Figure 1. It isof course understood that the measuring roll drives gears 35 and 36 tocause the roller 45 to engage the spring arm 46 and force the ratchetbar to latched position. During the motion of the ratchet bar from itsuppermost position of Figure 2 to its lowermost and latched position ofFigure 1, a timing mechanism now to be described, is being set so thatat the end of a time period it will trip the latch 50 and release therack bar 40, which is then moved upwardly under the combined actions ofthe springs 42 and 46, to act through its ratchet teeth, upon theratchet wheel 39, to rotate the measuring roll 25 and feed the paperoutwardly to the position shown in Figure 2, which figure shows theposition of the mechanism at the end of this feeding period. It is notedthat the timer (later described) has at this time been moved part way insetting direction.

The timer setting mechanism is generally of the type shown in co-pendingapplication to Birr No. 15,271. This time stop mechanism herein,comprises a stop arm 60 keyed to shaft 26 of the measuring roll, and aslide stop 6| suitably mounted, by means not shown, to freely slidevertically in the plate I8 across the path of arm 66. This slide stop 6|is connected by an arm 62 with a stem 63 of a plunger typeair-displacing timer, generally indicated at 64. The outer end of thearm 62 acts as a trip, as will be later disclosed. The stem is urgeddownwardly by means of spring 65 connected by one end to an arm 66 ofthe stem and by the other end to a projection 61 of a bracket 68 whichsecures the timer barrel in 0perative position to the plate 18. Thetimer has an air vent 69, which operates in a well known manner.

A link is pivoted to the slide stop 6| as at H and has a slot 13 throughwhich a pin 14 loosely passes, which pin is threaded into the arm ll.The arm 62 forms a trip for the latch 50 and engages a shoulder or stop16 of the latch during its downward movement and retracts the latchagainst the action of its spring 52 to the position shown indot-and-dash lines in Figure 2, thus'releasing the ratchet bar 40 at theend of the time period.

To prevent the arm stop 60 from remaining in frictional contact with theslide stop 6|, following its impact therewith, and therefore to preventinterference with a downward travel of the slide stop 6|, a back-offmechanism is provided. The back-off mechanism is associated with thegear 36, and with the shaft 31 of this gear, which is a feature.Referring to Figure 4: On the inside of the plate I8 is arranged a disc"having a shoulder 11 which engages with a roller 16 carried by an arm19 pivoted as at 80, and pressed by the spring 8| toward the disc 16.The backofi of the position of the parts of Figure 4 corresponds to thespaced relation of the end III of the arm 60, see Figure 1, relativelyto the slide stop 6|. Just before impact between arm. 60 and slide stop6| occurs, the shoulder 11 engages the r011 18, and pushes the arm awayfrom the disc 16 slightly. The spring then rotates the disc 16 in theopposite direction to back-off of the arm 60 and thus bring its end 80in the spaced relation shown in Figure 1.

Although in most instances there will be no need for manual means otherthan a pull on the paper to feed the paper or operate the measuringroll, I have thought it best to provide means, in addition to theautomatic feeding of the paper after timing, by which the paper can bemanually fed out if necessary. It may happen that when my invention isapplied to a hand tear-off type of cabinet, as disclosed herein, theuser instead of grasping the small accessible portion of the towelingshown in Figure 2 and pulling it to the limit, will tear off this smallportion. In such a case the automatic feeding means would not be set foroperation following the timing period of the time-stop mechanism.

I. therefore provide tbe iollowing manually operable feed-operatingmeans: Referring now to Figures 3 and 4; on the end of the shaft 28 atthe outer side of the plate ll, is keyed a ratchet respectivelytherethrough as shown. This wheel to havinga pawl II to prevent reverserotation. There is also provided a rack bar 92 having slots 91- withpins "-96 bar projects through a slot'in top of the casing so that itmay be pressed downwardly by the finger, and the rack bar is normallyheld in its upper position by the spring 91!, and out of contactwith'the ratchet wheel 9.. The bar is guided by the slots and pins, andwhen pushed downwardly from the position shown in Figure 4, engages anddrives the ratchet wheel OI to move the measuring roll to project thepaper suiliciently to be taken hold of. On release the rack bar againautomatically assumes the position shown in Figure 4.

Operation Assuming the parts to be positioned as in Figure 2, theoperator pulls downwardly on the paper rotating'the measuring roll 2! incounterclockwise direction, and correspondingly rotating the gear 36 inclockwise direction, and moving the roller from the position shown infull lines to engage the spring 66 at a point nearer its support. Asthis motion continues the rack is brought to its lower or latchedpositio of Figure l, and the link it raises the timer stem to theposition shown in Figure 1. When this position is reached the stop. arm.ti! has engaged the slide stop plate ti, and the roller 45 has traveledin clockwise direction to the dot-and-dash line position, whereby it hasflexed the spring arm 46, as shown, and this arm has acted to move therack 40 to latched position. After the parts have been positioned as inFigure 1, the timer moves downwardly and until the projection 82"engages a shoulder E5 of the latch Eli, and moves the latch to thedot-and-dash line release position of j I Figure 2. As soon as trippingoccurs the rack is moves-upwardly under the actions 0! the springs i2and 48, the teeth of the rack cooperating with the teeth of the disc torotate the measuring roll, and thus automatically feed the paper to theposition shown in Figure 2.

The above construction gives a very positive feeding action at the endof the timing period,. due to the combined actions of the springs and ofcourse the spring tensions are so proportioned as to permit properoperation by relatively light pull on the paper. and without prematurelytearing the paper. Various grades of paper may be used, and a paperwhich is tough and at the same'tline absorbent is preferably used.

I claim as my invention:

1, In combination with a paper dispensing apparatus which has atime-stop mechanism controlled by and controlling a measuring roll,auxiliary means automatically operable for moving sa d measuring roll infeed-out direction, means .by which iced-out operation oi the measuringroll. operates said auxiliary means to set it for automatic operation,and means operated by said time-stop mechanism at the end of a timeperiod torjlreieasing said set auxiliary means for automa'tic operation.

2. In combination with a paper dispensing apparatus which has atime-stopmechanism con trolled by and controlling a measuring roll, auxiliarymeans automatically operable .ior moving said measuring roll in iced-outdirection, and a latch for holding said means for release, means bywhich feed-out operation oi the measuring roll operates said auxiliarymeans to cause it to be held by the latch for automatic operation l uponrelease by said latch, and means operated by said time-stop mechanism atthe end of a time period for-rel said latch.

'3. In combination with a paper dispensing apparatus which has atime-stop mechanism controlled by and controlling a measuring roll,auxiliary power means automatically operable for moving said measuringroll in feed-out direction, and a latch for holding said means forrelease,

' means by which ieed-out operation of the measuring roll operates saidpower means to cause it to be held by said latch ior subsequent poweraction, and means moving with a part oi saidtlme-stop mechanism fortripping said latch at the end of a time period.

4. 'A paper cabinet comprising, a roll iriction ally engaged by thepaper. to be moved by or to move the same, power in automaticallyoperable for moving the roll in paper-advancing direction anda latch forholding said means for,

subsequent release and automatic operation;

means by which the roll operates the power-"means when the roll is movedin paper advancing direction, to move it to latched relation with saidlawn, a time-stop mechanism and means by which said roll operates thesame to set the timer whensaid roll ismoved in paper dispensingdirection, and means operated by said time-stop mechanism to trip saidlatch at the end oi the time period.

5. A paper dispensing apparatus having, a measuring roll, a time-stopmechanism controlled by and controlling the roll, a spring controlledrack. bar and means by which when the spring moves .thebar controls theroll to move it in feed-out direction, means operated by the roll, as itmoves in feed-out direction for moving said bar against the action orthe spring, including two meshing gears, a latch which holds the barafter being moved, and means forming a part of said time-stop mechanismandacting to trip the latch at the end of a time period. I

6. In a paper dispensing apparatus, a messuring. roll, a time stopmechanism controlled by and controlling the roll, a rack bar and aspring for actuating it, a latch for securing the bar after movementagainst the action of the spring,

.and meansby which the bar controls the roll to move it in teed-outdirection including ratchet teeth mounted to'move with the roll, meansoperated by the roll as it moves in teed-out direction for moving saidbar to set position against the action of the spring including a pair ofmeshed gears one on the roll and one independ ently mounted, a roller onthe independently mounted gear,-a spring arm engaged with the rack barand with which the roller is adapted to engage to move the rack baragainst the action 01' the actuating spring, and means forming a part ofsaid time stop mechanism for tripping to time the motion of said secondstop out of said path,'a first gear on the roll, a second gearindependently mounted and in mesh therewith, a latch which is tripped bythe timer at the end of a time period, a translatable rack bar and meansby which it drives the roll in feeding direction, means by which thesecond gear controls the rack bar to move it to engage the latch.

8. In combination with a towel dispensing apparatus which has a stopmechanism controlled by and controlling a measuring roll, auxiliarypower means automatically operable for moving said measuring roll infeed-out direction, and a latch for holding said means for release,means by which feed-out operation of the measuring roll operates saidpower means to'cause it to be held by: said latch for subsequent poweraction, and means moving with a part of said stop mechanism for trippingsaid latch when the stop mechanism is rendered ineffective.

9. A paper towel dispensing device comprising a case for holding asupply of paper toweling. the case having a discharge opening, springmeans in the case operable to eject'an edge portion of the towelingthrough the discharge opening to be engaged by the user whereby the usermay withdraw toweling from the case, releasable means holding the springmeans against operation, means for releasing the said releasable means,and means operable by the force applied to the toweling duringwithdrawal of the same for conditioning the spring means for asucceeding operation.

10. A dispensing device comprising a case for containing a supply oftoweling, the case having a discharge opening, means for ejecting aportion of 'the toweling from the opening to be grasped by the user forthe purpose of withdrawing toweling from the case, said means includinga rotatable member in the case, means training a portion of the towelingon the member whereby the member has movement controlling engagementwith the toweling and is tumable by the toweling when the toweling iswithdrawn from the case, and spring means for turning the member toeject said portion of the toweling from the opening, and means operableby turning of the member when the toweling is manually withdrawn forconditioning said spring means for a subsequent ejecting operation.

11. In combination with a paper dispensing apparatus of the tear-oiltype in which the remaining supply is invisible and inaccessible after alength has been torn oif, time-stop mechanism operated by pull on thepaper, and means operating automatically after timed release of the stopmechanism to cause paper to be brought to visible and accessibleposition.

12. In combination with a towel dispensing apparatus in which thetoweling is in frictional relation with a roll to be moved by the rollor to move the roll, time-stop mechanism controlled by and controllingthe roll. and means controlled by and controlling the roll and adaptedto automatically move the roll to dispense toweling after a timedrelease of said stop 14. A towel cabinet comprising a roll with whichthe paper is frictionally engaged to move the roll when the paper ispulled or to advance the paper independently of a pull on the paper, atime-stop mechanism, means by which it is controlled by the roll to stopthe roll and to be conditioned for a timed release, means acted upon bypaper-advancing motion of the roll to be conditioned to automaticallymove the roll to promptly advance the paper to accessible positionfollowing stop release at the end of the time period, and means formanually operating the roll td advance the paper to a position fromwhich it can be grasped and pulled out.

15. A sheet material dispensing apparatus having a measuring roll, atime-stop mechanism controlled by and controlling the roll, a spring andmeans by which the roll puts it under tension during feeding motion andconditions it for auto matically moving said means to move the roll infeeding direction after release of said roll by said stop mechanism atthe end of its time period.

16. In an apparatus for dispensing sheet material, a cabinet, having thefollowing mechanism, all concealed within the cabinet, a measuring rollwith which the sheet is in frictional feeding engagement, a time-stopmechanism and means by which it is controlled by and controls the roll,and roll-driving means operated by the roll to be conditioned forroll-driving as the roll is operated in feeding direction, and adaptedto automatically drive the roll after a timed release of the stopmechanism to feed the sheet to visible and accessible position.

17. A sheet material dispensing apparatus having a measuring roll, atime-stop mechanism controlled by and controlling the roll, and meanscontrolled by and controlling the roll to be set for controlling actionas a result of roll rotation in feeding direction, and to automaticallydrive the roll in feeding direction after release of the roll by saidstop mechanism at the end of its time period.

18. A paper dispensing mechanism having, a timer, means operable by thepaper as it is dispensed for initiating timing action of the timer, andmeans operating at the end of the timing period for automaticallyaccessibly positioning more paper.

19. A paper dispensing apparatus having an automatic timing mechanism,means by which the timer is caused to perform a timing operationfollowing pulling out of paper, and means operating promptly aftertiming action of the timer to automatically accessibly position morepaper.

20. A towel dispensing mechanism having means by which toweling is madeaccessible for pulling out, a timer, means by which timing action'of thetimer is initiated as a result of operation of the first means, andmeans operating automatically at the end of the time period to operatethe first-mentioned means to bring paper to accessible position.

21. A paper dispensing mechanism having first means controlling themovement of paper to accessible position, a timer, and means by whichthe first means initiates its action as paper is dispensed including alatch which is moved to latching position as the paper is dispensed andwhich is tripped by the timer at the end of the timing period to allowthe first means to move the paper to accessible position, and meansoperby the parts are conditioned so that the spring actuated means willrotate the roll when said last mentioned means is released.

23. In a dispensing mechanism, feeding means, a spring and means bywhich it is tensioned by the feeding motion of said feeding means andconditioned to automatically cause additional feeding motion of saidmeans, feeding motion of said feeding means in a position whereat saidspring is conditioned to automatically cause said additional feedingmotion, means forautomatically moving said limiting means to allow saidspring to cause said additional feeding motion of said feeding means,said feeding means being a roll and said means by which the rollconditions said spring to cause additional feeding motion of the rollincluding, a. bar connected to the spring and moved by means actuated bythe roll to put the spring under tension as the roll moves in feedingdirection.

24. A sheet dispensing apparatus in which a portion of the sheetis-normally accessible for being dispensedby hand, means movable by thesheet as it is dispensed, means limiting the movement of said movablemeans during sheet dispensing action, means for automatically releasingsaid limiting means at the end of a time period, and auxiliary powermeans acting to move said movable means to cause more of the com- 40modity to be made accessible and means by which said movable meansconditions said power means means for limiting timer, and means by forautomatic actionat the end of said time period.

25. A device of the class described having dispensing means having atime-stop mechanism, and means for automatically operating thedispensing means following a timed release of said time-stop mechanism.

26. A device of the class described having dispensing means and meansset by said dispensing means and having a time-stop mechanism.

adapted for automatically operating said dispensing means following atimed release of said time-stop mechanism.

27. A supply dispensing apparatus in which part of the supply isnormally accessible, and having a timing mechanism, first means by whichsome of the supply is made initially accessible, and second means bywhich operation of said first means to make some of the supplyaccessible ini. tes a timing operation of the which said first means iscaused to automatically, accessibly position some more of the supply atthe end of the timing period of the timing mechanism.

28. In a dispensing device, having dispensing means controlled by atime-stop mechanism and means automatically acting on the dispensingmeans after release of the time-stop mechanism to move said dispensingmeans for dispensing.

' 29. A sheet dispensing apparatus having dispensing means and a stopmechanism controlled by and controlling said dispensing means, a springand means by which it operates said dispensing means for dispensing, onrelease of said stop mechanism.

30. In a dispensing device for sheetmaterial,

which has feeding means controlled'by a stop mechanism, means actingafter release of the stop mechanism to automatically operate the feedingmeans to make sheet material accessible.

, ALBERT C. GRUNWALQ.

